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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Matthew Yearout <yearout AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Excessive Swarms
  • Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 13:12:30 -0400

Matthew,

Re: "I'd like to know more about why virgin queens swarm, (assuming that's what is going on).  Any suggested reading?": Honeybee Democracy by Tom Seeley. The whole book is about swarming and related behavior.

Also remember that it isn't really queens that swarm (virgin or otherwise); it is the colony that decides to swarm and they take a queen with them. That doesn't provide an answer but it shifts the question slightly. Why does a colony that has recently swarmed decide to swarm again? The fundamental answer is simple: to reproduce. But why are they doing it in what seems to be a dumb and futile way? Seeley has researched this overall topic extensively, although he probably raises as many questions as he answers. Check out the book.

Randall

On 4/23/2014 9:43 AM, Matthew Yearout wrote:
Greetings, I've got a few questions. Some of you might see this twice, since I'm posting to DCBA and OCBA.  A Durham beekeeper has 4 hives, 2 managed and 2 given to her over the winter.  The good news, everyone made it.  The mixed bag, these hives have been swarming on a weekly basis since late March.  The last three were Friday, the other was last Wednesday.  Also, they are not being fed.

Questions:
  • I'd like to know more about why virgin queens swarm, (assuming that's what is going on).  Any suggested reading?
  • Suggestions of how to break this cycle? 

I went through the hives yesterday.  All of them had a good number of bees, brood and of coarse more swarm cells.  Only one of the hives had eggs, but not enough to share with the whole apiary.  Here's how the inspection went, comments and advice welcomed. 

Hives:

  1. Two medium frames of eggs and two or three of brood.  We marked the queen and after discussing pros and cons, removed three capped swarm cells.  Added a super of undrawn foundation for space.  This hive was calm, we didn't even use smoke.
  2. No eggs, empty swarm cells, spotty brood, lots of workers and lots of drones.  The hive was calm, but we did smoke it.  First impulse is to say there's no queen.  But given the repeated swarming, I wonder if she is either on a mating flight, or shes just elusive and not good at her job yet.  My suggestion was to check again this weekend for evidence of a queen.  I haven't offered advice on what to do if she is still not there or hasn't started laying. I'd welcome suggestions.
  3. Lots of cranky bees, some drones, no queen found, two capped and several empty swarm cells, brood but no eggs and a superseder cell.  We pulled the the capped swarm cells, but left the superseder as insurance.  
  4. We couldn't inspect.  At this point the bee yard was getting amped up and clouds had rolled in.  Its a shame, because below is a picture from the day before.  It looks like some sort of micro swarm under the hive.  My guess was that the queen returned from her mating flight and went under the hive by mistake. That, or a virgin queen, unvictorious but still living, fled under the hive.  But those are unfounded speculation, which is why I'm putting this on the listserv and seeking advise.
Thanks,
Matthew


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